Most helpful positive review

I bought this radio a month ago at best buy, and it works great. it has quite a few features, but they take a little while to get used to. you can simply put a flash drive into the front and it reads the music files on it, and the display flows smoothly. the usb also charges your devices, which makes it convienient for cell phones/ipods/zunes/mp3's. Aux connection works well. It has subwoofer level control, as well as bass level control, making it a great radio to add to your audio improvement in your car. in my opinion though, it would be well worth the extra $6 to just buy the radio from best buy (my total was $117.99 after tax) and not have to worry about the hassle of shipping/vendors/etc. overall, it is a great radio, great quality/brand name, and works efficiently, lots of positive features, especially for the price.

Most helpful critical review

I've had a couple of headunits, and bought this because it was inexpensive (I bought it used from another site)I needed a USB unit and this was the cheapest I could find with a decent quality.However, I HATE the screen. You can barely see it during daylight, the reflection is impossible.I just got used to not seeing the screen of it.

Pros:Decent sound qualityPlays MP3Has front USB

Cons:Screen is useless in daylightOnly has 2 channel EQDoesn't have rear USB

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I bought this radio a month ago at best buy, and it works great. it has quite a few features, but they take a little while to get used to. you can simply put a flash drive into the front and it reads the music files on it, and the display flows smoothly. the usb also charges your devices, which makes it convienient for cell phones/ipods/zunes/mp3's. Aux connection works well. It has subwoofer level control, as well as bass level control, making it a great radio to add to your audio improvement in your car. in my opinion though, it would be well worth the extra $6 to just buy the radio from best buy (my total was $117.99 after tax) and not have to worry about the hassle of shipping/vendors/etc. overall, it is a great radio, great quality/brand name, and works efficiently, lots of positive features, especially for the price.

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I bought this unit after my much more expensive pioneer unit was stolen. After a month of looking at new units I decided on this one because: A. the price was right B. the aux & USB in the front C. the price was really good.The radio went in nicely and I am pleased by the sound I am getting out of my Alpine speakers. Sound clarity from the unit is very nice even at higher volumes. I only wish the unit had more equalizer options (only bass and treble can be adjusted), but that would probably cost more money.The front aux in works fine, I have not had a chance to try using the USB port for playing devices yet. The unit only supports apple products through the USB or flash drives. And my ipod was stolen with the old unit, so I cannot test this. The CD player I don't really care about, they are kind of a nuisance to use in the digital music age.I gave the unit four stars instead of five is because it is not a perfect unit, and is meant to be a more entry level unit. I wish that Alpine could have put a remote control with it, there is a remote control sensor on the front and you can buy them separately. But I think it is a little annoying to have to pay $20 for a basic Alpine remote. Also the unit does not have a dimmer, it's just a small annoyance.

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I've had a couple of headunits, and bought this because it was inexpensive (I bought it used from another site)I needed a USB unit and this was the cheapest I could find with a decent quality.However, I HATE the screen. You can barely see it during daylight, the reflection is impossible.I just got used to not seeing the screen of it.

Pros:Decent sound qualityPlays MP3Has front USB

Cons:Screen is useless in daylightOnly has 2 channel EQDoesn't have rear USB

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everything came as expected and works great. it's a great stereo and was in fine condition for refurbished. only complaint is that it was packaged without the keys to remove the stereo from the frame. luckily i had some from a stereo replacement before or i would have been screwed.

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I bought this unit on Crutchfield about two years ago for my 2001 Civic. I got it so I can play my iPod via USB and now I'm using my phone via the AUX. It has pretty much all the features you need and expect to find except Bluetooth but I didn't need that. This unit definitely made my whole system sound better. The highs are a lot crispier and vibrant and the sound in general sounds cleaner. It's a little weak on the low-end however compared to my stock head unit. So in terms of sound quality, this unit will boost and clear up your highs.

Now the annoying things about this unit.1. The buttons feel cheap. They make a loud clicking sound on every press and just feels cheap.2. You cannot read the display during the day. It's just impossible.3. The four blue buttons stay on all the time and they're bright so it's annoying at night. I wish there was an option to turn it off. Again, it adds on to the whole "cheapness".4. It lags. When I'm trying to scroll through my iPod, it takes forever to get to a song. My dad's car has a Pioneer with pretty much the same features and specs and that thing makes it a breeze to scroll through my music but the Alpine is just too slow and inefficient. Even the quick search feature is not good enough.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend this product. If you're in the market for a head unit that provides the basic features (CD, AUX, and iPod), get a Pioneer. Their sound quality is great as well and it's just designed better than this model.

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love the head unit! i went from a dual head unit from walmart to this and i must say i am impressed. at first i wasnt for sure about getting it but i went to creative car audio and bought it. it has much better sound quality and the subwoofer control is awesome! it makes it alot easier to turn up and down my subs going down the road. but be carefull, ive had people complain because my music was too loud! but the only thing i dont like about this unit is when i try to turn it down somtimes i end up pushing in the toggle and it messes with my other options instead :/ but either way. awesome head unit! make sure you have some powerfull speakers first. the ones i have cant handle all the power this head unit puts out. the usb doesnt just control ipods and iphones. i have just a cheap little slider phone and it has all my music on it and the head unit recognizes my phone and controls all my music on it too. if i was too suggest which head unit to buy i would suggest this one over any sony/pioner/boss head unit.

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Really like the options of iPhone/iPod and the USB and Aux-input on a unit for under $100. And of course, the CD player. No complaints on what I would expect from a basic unit. I would recommend and buy again. There are three minor annoyances I have:(1) skipping forward/back on files when using the USB connection with a jump drive. If you're using an iPhone/iPod, you can quickly jump within your library using the 1-6 preset keys. The unit divides your library into 6 equal segments (for example, if you have 200 files and press 4, the unit will jump about 60% forward). HOWEVER, this option isn't available via USB. So forget about trying to easily jump forward.(2) the display is pretty clunky. But you know that from just looking at the pictures.(3) the display doesn't dim when the dash lights are turned on. Again, I knew this upfront but it would be nice.

SUMMARY: for $100, this is a great unit. The issues above are resolved by buying a better model with those features.

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For a basic, bottom-end, budget car stereo, this ALPINE CDE-121 is a solid piece of equipment. There are easy to use functions and displays. The USB connection is a jack where you supply the cable and your MP3 player. Yes, you lose control of your player, 'cause it's now connected to the car stereo AND you only paid $100 for this! But, I am BEYOND SATISFIED. Personally, I paid to have this installed into my Hyundai, as they use so many kinds of wire harnesses (randomly), but the instructions are simple and easy to do your own install IF you have the right tools and equipment and wire harnesses, etc. It's a great little stereo for the little I paid for it!